The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-06-11
RELIGION AND AMUSEMENT.
Boston ooar,er,l ]

It is strange how little modern ". ligious leaders sccm to realize the in- timate relation which exists or should between religion and amusement, and how utterly they fail ot availing themselves of the universal lovc of pleasure to advance ethical truth. The religion ot the aacients was so intt- ulAtely Mterwovcn with the texture ot his daily life that he was hardly able to conceive of the existence of either apart flOm the other X fes- tival was as closely connected with the theology of the times as was & scr- vice in the temple, and only iiiterNi In it's rchtions to the gods in heing less solemn and less explicitly an art of worship. nance and theatrical rrprc- scntation began with iihation a,Ni Sac- riticc, and if the Greks wem pro- vided with multitude of dcitlcs which must have been semew hat bc- wildcrlng even to tho most deVout, they at least set apart nothing either of plaeo~ circumstance in which they did not s,r deity actively present.
 The same k undoubtedly true ot the carly Christians, although the stress of persecution under which they eni- brac1 the new doctrines lett to thcm little of that pagan ioyousness which had too ottcn dcgcRratel into free dom which no ethical code. however broad, could be stretched to cover. They went about with their lives ia their hands. and it iS hardly too much to say that the external gloom of the youth of Christianity has lcil u trace oi outward solcmnity which from heing a natural effect of surroundings has come to tc little better than super stition. To-day, after centuries chcckercd with tolerance and perseru. ton, th"re exists dccp- seated and IL. logical feeling that ioyousness. 1T not positively unchristian. Is at lcaSt un- spiritual. The carly Christians prob ably had no theory on the subject Religion was the one vital fact of life for them. and they had no nssl to consider ethical subtilities of de- nlcanor.
 Too emphatic dwelling upon lhe pruncncSs of the human heart to evil and upon the difficulty of inducing men to elcaVc to right things. devel- oped after some generations the evil notion that since man unwillihgly chose good whatever was disagrembc to him must bc his duty. purilanIsm, with all iis brave heroism of godli- mss, was thoroughly saturated with the idea. The stern souls of our nu. cestors delighted in enhancing thc ter TOTS amt iiiiitiitir- o; the heaye;:l. way, thereby enhancing in their minds the worth and joys ot thc celestial re wards to be won at lasl The later reaction of to-day, instead of di~rim. mating betwcen the essentials and the accidents of Puritanism. has endaiv. orcd to reject the whole together. The scnsuous side of human nature un- naturally repressed, hns risen in revolt and demanded everything: and any re- ligion which desires to rcaeI, pr to hold the donbt"rs of the present gcner- alton must reckon with this fact,
 The Roman Catholic church has nj. ways. to a wide extent. taken the sen suous side into account. It hns hnd the amu|mcnts of inc people under its control. or at lcas, IL hns taken cog nizancc of them positively instead of negatively II hns carefully guarded against the growth of thni idrn wherein lies one of the greatest dangers which mcImccS the Protestant church to-day, the assumption thnt religion wns one thing and the con. duet oi daily life another. The church which has share in the nmuSencnts of its people k meeting then, upon the most persuasive footing